"The Pin" New downtown Phoenix observation tower! (schools, tax)

[azriverfan.]

I like it. It's not the prettiest but it's a nice kick in the pants to all the NIMBYS who are against expansion and progress. Any time Phoenix tries to adop elements that bigger cities have the small town minded NIMBY's try to reject it and keep us in the dark ages. It will be nice when this Millenial generation comes of age because they most certainly don't wish for Phoenix to return to its small town elements and prefer expansion, technology and progress.

The point is, you have to start somewhere. It's being funded with private money. The point is more developers need to take chances with downtown Phoenix. The pin will create one more attraction in downtown.

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

I agree that it should be built north of downtown ... however, I don't agree that the skyline is fine the way it is. The height of the skyline might have been OK back in the 1970s or '80s when the city was smaller ... but we are now the sixth largest city in the nation with a population of 1.5 million. And before anybody argues that we don't have a tall skyline because we have enough room to build outward, so does a city like Houston ... however, Houston has a great downtown skyline despite all their sprawl & expansive land area to still build outward.

Unfortunately, Sky Harbor is one reason for the height restrictions, but you can blame that on the FAA which is very intrusive as far as I'm concerned. San Diego's airport is close to downtown, but they have a nice skyline even though there are height restrictions. Phoenix doesn't have the same height restrictions as San Diego anyway, so I don't see what the problem is. Also, the massive resorts along the Las Vegas Strip have been allowed to grow taller over time despite how close they are to the airport. In all honesty, I consider the Sky Harbor location another lame excuse to not grow taller.

First of all, I hope they get a different architectural design for that so-call "Pin", secondly, I think it should be located further north, possibly north of McDowell and 3rd Street, or even further north somewhere between Indian School and Camelback, east of Central. If they build the pin in its proposed location, there are other tall buildings around and if I were to visit it, I would not want too many tall buildings that could obstruct the view of distant terrain, like the Bradshaw Mountain Range, The White Tanks, and the Estrella Mountain Range to the southwest, which will be obstructed by a tower that's currently under construction, since a lot of downtown buildings are also less than a 1/2 mile away. Put it in a location where there aren't that many buildings around it, and no future buildings that are taller can be built near it that could potentially obstruct views.

I know this is somewhat off topic, but I've always wondered about how San Diego was able to build tall structures in their downtown, and very close to Lindbergh Field, which is a very busy airport, with one short runway. The approach patterns for SD Lindbergh bring airplanes closer to downtown buildings than we have here in Phoenix, though Sky Harbor's take-offs and landings can be directed either to the west or east, whereas flights in and out of Lindbergh are always directed to the west. All the times I've visited San Diego, I've never seen flights taking off and landing at Lindbergh heading east, mainly because of the wind direction is from the west, and possibly because of noise abatement for area residents. In Phoenix, there's plenty of distance between the tall downtown structures and air traffic that's either taking off from runway 26 (heading west) or landing on Runway 8 (heading east), which is the runway on the north side of Sky Harbor, and the 2 runways on the south side of Sky Harbor (25R, 25L/7R and 7L) which take flights even further away from downtown. So buildings that are taller than our tallest structure, The Chase Tower, which has been that way since 1973, can be built downtown, or north of downtown.

[Jnvlv247]

The Airport is about 5 miles compared to San Diego, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami-all with airports within 5-6 miles of their centers. So what's stopping us? Clearly not that I don't think

I agree we should fill in that gap from downtown and midtown

I moved here in 2007 and I flew into Phoenix a month ago from the midwest and when I saw downtown and midtown from the air I was very surprised at what I was seeing. The city has really come a LONG way in 5 years and that's pretty awesome. And considering most of that was a recession, that's pretty great for any city. Give it time!! It will be there. As for the surrounding areas, I don't think we will ever see big skyscrapers in Scottsdale or Mesa. Tempe, Glendale?

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by Jnvlv247

The Airport is about 5 miles compared to San Diego, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami-all with airports within 5-6 miles of their centers. So what's stopping us? Clearly not that I don't think

The FAA has a map that shows, block by block, what heights would be allowed in downtown Phoenix. In some spots the limit is lower than the current highest (Chase Bank building).

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by Jnvlv247

The Airport is about 5 miles compared to San Diego, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami-all with airports within 5-6 miles of their centers. So what's stopping us? Clearly not that I don't think

I agree we should fill in that gap from downtown and midtown

I moved here in 2007 and I flew into Phoenix a month ago from the midwest and when I saw downtown and midtown from the air I was very surprised at what I was seeing. The city has really come a LONG way in 5 years and that's pretty awesome. And considering most of that was a recession, that's pretty great for any city. Give it time!! It will be there. As for the surrounding areas, I don't think we will ever see big skyscrapers in Scottsdale or Mesa. Tempe, Glendale?

Tempe has 2 new condo towers, with different heights just west of Mill Ave, and not very far from Sky Harbor's Glide Slope, where aircraft approach Sky Harbor on final to land on runways 25R or 25L, or when they take off heading east from the same runways (7R and 7L) We might see such buildings in other cities around the valley, but they won't be as tall as any of the buildings in downtown or mid-town Phoenix, at least not in our life time.

You are correct, downtown Phoenix has changed quite a bit, not only in the number of tall buildings, but in many other ways as well, and you definitely cannot compare it to how it was 20-30 years ago.

[new2colo]

Originally Posted by Jnvlv247

The Airport is about 5 miles compared to San Diego, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami-all with airports within 5-6 miles of their centers. So what's stopping us? Clearly not that I don't think

I agree we should fill in that gap from downtown and midtown

I moved here in 2007 and I flew into Phoenix a month ago from the midwest and when I saw downtown and midtown from the air I was very surprised at what I was seeing. The city has really come a LONG way in 5 years and that's pretty awesome. And considering most of that was a recession, that's pretty great for any city. Give it time!! It will be there. As for the surrounding areas, I don't think we will ever see big skyscrapers in Scottsdale or Mesa. Tempe, Glendale?

Before the recession there was a proposal for a 40 story tower near the Westgate complex in Glendale. If built, it would have been the tallest building in Arizona. I believe the name of the complex was cbd101. I think it's very plausible that the Phoenix area will see more vertical development proposals within the next several years.

[phoenixmike11]

Observation-tower plan falls through

the latest on the planned observation tower downtown- if u can not access the republic due to the paywall

Observation Tower a no-go at Arizona Science Center - Phoenix Business Journal

[KurtAZ]

Good...it is ugly and serves no purpose.

[timothyaw]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Good...it is ugly and serves no purpose.

I totally agree, but according to the article the project still has legs. It's not dead yet.

[observer53]

They are just looking for another downtown parcel. Frankly, if they are going to do anything like that, they need to go just a bit farther north.